Four youths from Kalyan near Mumbai, who are believed to have joined the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (IS formerly known as ISIS) want to come back, Union home ministry sources have said.

As reported by HT on Tuesday, the father of one of the youths had contacted the National Investigation Agency (NIA) officials and sought their help in rescuing his son from Turkey.

“We have information that the three other youths from Kalyan near Mumbai, who had also gone to Iraq to fight alongside IS fighters, also want to come back, though their families are yet to get in touch with the government or its agencies as in the case of Areeb, whose father Ejaz Majid sought help from the NIA sleuths. It may be case that these youths are yet to come out of the fighting zone like Areeb who managed to flee from there,” said a home ministry official requesting anonymity.

Areeb along with his three other friends — Aman Naeem Tandel, Fahad Tanveer Shaikh and Sahim Farooq Tanki — went missing from Kalyan and flew with a group of pilgrims to Iraq.

All four joined the IS but later Tanki called up Areeb’s father to tell him that son died in fighting which was not true.